No matter how small a town, no matter how much time you bring or take there, you can never know a place fully. Even some remote dimensions of your hometown will forever be out of reach as they are out of sight with your view all skewed by individual experience, socio-economic surroundings, mindset matters, and the people you (don't) interact with. When you talk about what it's like to live there, you talk about what it's like for you.

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"the more dedicated the immersion, the more friction, the more generously the visitor spends time on local interaction and looks behind corners, the more notes they can gather."

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Of course, your familiarity with your hometown is vast compared to a visitor passing through. And while a stranger’s outside perspective might carry unbiased information that is inaccessible to the perpetual resident, they can hardly experience the inhabitant’s insider angle. That’s why immersion is the traveler’s key to unlocking a widened understanding of a place; the more dedicated the immersion, the more friction, the more generously the visitor spends time on local interaction and looks behind corners, the more notes they can gather.

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